Truckers Gear Up To Rebuild Image Of Road Safety

August 25, 1985|By KNT News Service

WASHINGTON — In response to what trucking industry officials concede has been a disastrous year for their safety image, the American Trucking Association plans an advertising campaign to convince motorists that trucks are not as dangerous as many drivers fear.

ATA officials said the ad campaign, to begin Jan. 1, will stress two themes: first, that the industry has a good safety record considering the billions of miles driven each year; and second, that the nation's economy is dependent on the trucking industry.

Many of the points addressed by ATA president Thomas Donohue were raised in a series of reports on truck safety last spring by Knight-Ridder Newspapers.

Among other findings, the series found:

-- Interstate trucking is the most deadly form of commercial transportation, causing more than three times as many deaths for the miles traveled as airlines, railroads and shipping combined.

-- Thousands of truck companies routinely violate federal safety laws -- and federal or state regulators rarely penalize even the most serious violators.

-- Two-thirds of all trucks subjected to roadside spot checks had one or more safety defects. Nearly a fourth of all trucks checked had defective brakes, and almost a third were ordered out of service immediately because they were too dangerous to drive.

-- The federal agency responsible for truck safety is so understaffed than it had only 130 inspectors to check more than a million semitrailer trucks operated by 210,000 truck companies.

''We think there is a perception out there that we don't care about safety,'' said ATA spokesman David Gordon. ''We want to correct that.''

ATA president Thomas Donohue said there will be a reversal of the opposition to federal inspectors targeting apparently unsafe trucks for roadside checks. That position was taken before he became president this year. Instead, he said, ''We're going to push for them to get out of random inspections . . . I want the bad trucks off the road.''

Donohue noted other ATA steps to improve safety. For example, the association signed a contract Friday with a computer company to provide truck companies with information about drivers' records. ''The basic objective is to get the bums off the road,'' Donohue said.

The ATA now markets a new driver training program of movies, slide shows and books intended to teach safety to company officials and drivers and is developing a psychological test to help pick drivers with the right ''attitudes'' toward safety.